Cord twister and winder



DecQl, 1959 Filod Dec. 10. 1956 H. M. BROWN CORD 27 30 37 r lums/Tog.fix E 1 J7 1 b M. Bram BY 1 ///f y 44 4 ATT'OKNEY Dec. 1, 1959 M. BROWN2,914,904

CORD TWISTER AND WINDER Filed Dec. 10, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

BY Hzgb M. Bram fw w. M

A TTORNE Y United States Patent CORD TWISTER AND WINDER Hugh M. Brown,Clemson, S.C., assignor to Clemson Agricultural College of SouthCarolina, Clemson, S.C. a corporation of South Carolina ApplicationDecember 10, 1956, Serial No. 627,364

Claims. (Cl. 5758.65)

This invention relates to devices for twisting and winding yarn onto atake-up spool to form a package, such devices being used in making cord.

Most prior devices of this type use a reciprocating or oscillating yarnguide for traversing the yarn back and forth to build up a yarn mass ona spool or core to form a yarn package.

One object of the invention is to simplify such devices by eliminatingthe reciprocating or oscillating yarn guide used in former devices.

Another object is to provide a yarn-traversing means comprising a rollerhaving right hand and left hand grooves of the reversing type, crossingeach other, which grooves directly engage the yarn to traverse the yarnalong a core in building a package.

A more specific object is to provide a friction drum type take-up devicewherein the friction drum is provided with reversing screw type groovesdirectly engaging the yarn to traverse the yarn longitudinally of a corewhich is driven by the friction drum in building a package thereon.

Still another object is to provide a novel yarn traversing arrangementin which a substantial length of yarn is maintained between the point oflast twisting and the take-up package, and the yarn is oscillated aboutan eifective radius considerably greater than any straight linedimension within the winder.

The above and other objects will appear in connection with the followingspecification taken with the accompanying drawings forming a partthereof and in which like characters of reference represent like partsthroughout the several figures.

Figure l of the drawing represents a side elevation of one form of myinvention;

Figure 2 is a front elevation taken along the line 2-2 of Figure 1,looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a part sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of Figure 1,looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of a modified form of the invention;

Figure 5 is a front elevation of the device of Figure 4; and

Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Figure 4 looking in thedirection of the arrows.

A two-for-one twister is a device for imparting to filar material twotwists or turns per revolution of a twisting spindle. This isaccomplished by revolving a loop or balloon of the filar material abouteither a source of supply or a take-up package. In many common forms ofthe device, the supply or the take-up is maintained stationary in spacebut may partake of rotation for the purpose of unwinding or winding asthe case may be.

Referring to the drawing, the two-for-onetwister shown in Figures 1 to 3includes a rotatable spindle 11 mounted in suitable bearings 12, 13supported in a frame 14. A pulley 15 fixed on the spindle 11 is drivenby a belt 16 to rotate the spindle. Above the bearing 12 a dish-shapedannular guide member 17 is, fixed on the ICC spindle 11, and above thisguide the spindle is reduced in diameter as at 18 and has ananti-friction bearing 19 mounted thereon.

A generally U-shaped frame 20 is mounted at the yoke 21 thereof on thebearing 19. The upper portions of upright arms 22 and 23 of the frame 20are slotted, as

at 24 in the arm 22 as seen in Figure 1, for a purpose later to appear.The arms 22, 23 are also provided with hinged portions 25, 26 formingthe upper end portions of one finger or tine of the two arms. The hingedportions 25, 26 are normally held in vertical position by means oflatches 27 and 28, the latch 27 being shown as pivoted on a pin 29 inthe upper end of the rigid tine of arm 22. The purpose of the hingedconstruction is to provide for the insertion of a core or the dofling ofa full package. The frame 20 is normally held stationary ornon-revoluble by means of a pair of magnets 30, 31 mounted thereonsubstantially on a diameter of the guide member 17. A second pair ofmagnets 32, 33, with opposite polarity, are fixed in any suitable manneron the frame 14 and are arranged opposite magnets 30 and 31' withsuflicient space between the opposed magnets to allow the loop L of theyarn to pass between them. The use of magnets in this manner is wellknown, and the precise arrangement thereof is not a part of thisinvention.

The upper end of the reduced portion 18 of the spindle 11 carries a worm34 which meshes with'a worm gear 35 mounted on a shaft 36 which isjournaled in a pair of spaced plates 37 and 38 mounted on yoke 21 offrame 20. Shaft 36 extends through a bearing in arm 23 and its outer endcarries a pinion 39 which meshes with a gear 40 mounted on thehorizontal shaft 41 of a grooved traversing drum 42. The opposite end ofthe drum 42 carries a trunnion 43 on which there is mounted a gear 44which meshes with pinions 45 and 46 on shafts 47 and 48, respectively.Shaft 41 and trunnion 43 are journalled in bearings carried by arms 22and 23. The shafts 47 and 48 are journalled in plates 37 and 38 andcarry feed rollers 49 and 50, respectively. The outer ends of the shafts47 and 48 are journalled in lugs 51 and 52, respectively, mounted on thearm 22.

A second horizontal shaft 53 rides in the slot 24 of arm 22 and in acorresponding slot in the arm 23, and carries a core 54 upon which apackage 55 of yarn Y is wound.

A pair of outwardly curved guide bars 56 and 57 are mounted on the arms22 and 23 in substantially the same horizontal plane above feed rolls 49and 50. The center of curvature of guide bar 56 is located on theopposite side of the axis of spindle 11 and, likewise, the center ofcurvature of guide bar 57 is located on the opposite side of the axis ofspindle 11, although these bars are not necessarily curved to conformwith circular arcs.

The spindle 11 is bored axially from its upper end to a point slightlybelow the guide disk 17 and laterally at this point to form a guide 58.The disk 17 is provided with an aperture 59 near its outer edge, anddirectly in front of the lower opening of guide bore 58 to serve as aguide for yarn coming from a fixed guide 60 located above the winder onthe axis of spindle 11.

In operation, rotation of spindle 11 rotates guide disk 17, but theU-shaped frame 20 is held against rotation by means of magnets 30, 31,32 and 33 as described. Ro tation of the spindle 11 drives the shaft 36through worm 34 and gear 35, and this shaft drives the pinion 39 andgear 40 to rotate the drum 42. Rotation of this drum drives the feedrollers 49, 50, by means of gear 44 and pinions 45 and 46. A yarn (whichmay be an assembly of filar elements from a suitable source) passesthrough the guide 66) and into a loop portion L which rotates about thetwister and then through the guides 59 and 58 to feed roller 49. Theyarn is twisted two turns for each turn of the spindle 11 in passingfrom the guide 61) to the feed roller 49. The twisted yarn makes severalpasses about the rollers 49 and 50. The yarn from the last loop onroller 50 passes across the twister and is looped around guide bar 56and is then returned and passes under guide bar 57 and then upwardly andinwardly to traverse drum 42. The drum 42 is provided with a pair ofoppositely directed spiral yarn-guiding grooves 61, 62 which cross eachother intermediate the ends of the drum as at 63 and which are joined atthe ends of the drum by the groove portions 64, 65. The yarn upon beingplaced in the spiral groove at one point will follow the grooves 61, 62as the drum 42 rotates and will be wound on the core 54 to form the yarnmass 55. The grooves 61, 62 cause the yarn to move back and forth fromend to end of the core to form a self-supporting headless package of thewell-known Fiji wind type. Rotation of the drum 42 rotates the core 54(or the package 55) at a constant uniform peripheral speed. The feedrollers 49 and 50, being driven from the drum 42 by the gear 44 andpinions 45, 46 are rotated at a constant speed and feed the twisted yarncontinuously and evenly to the package 55. In passing from the feedroller 56 to the package 55, the yarn passes over the two guide bars 56and 57 which are suitably curved in a horizontal plane to permit asubstantially constant length of yarn to be running between the feedroller 50 and the periphery of the drum 42. Also, due to the curvatureof the bars 56 and 57 the loops of yarn looped around these bars do notremain stationary but shift to different positions along the length ofthe bars to follow the point at which the yarn is fed into the packageby the traverse drum 42. The action is as if the yarn were being fedfrom a fixed point located at one side of drum 42 a distance equal tothe length of yarn from the last point of contact on roller 50 to thepoint of contact with package 55.

In the modification of Figures 4 to 6, the twisting and winding deviceincludes a spindle 111 suitably rotatably mounted in a frame 114. Apulley 115 is fixed on the spindle 111 and is driven by a belt 116. Adish-shaped guide disk 117 is fixed on the spindle above the frame 114.Above the guide disk 117 and rotatably mounted with respect to thespindle 111 there is a substantially U-shaped frame 120 comprising abight portion 121 and upright arm portions 122, 123. The frame 120 ismaintained stationary in space, i.e., it is prevented from revolving, bymeans of a pair of magnets 130 and 131 fixed thereon, and cooperatingwith a pair of magnets 132, 133, with oppositely arranged poles, fixedon the frame 114 below the disk 117. A worm 134 is mounted on the upperend of the spindle 111 and meshes with a worm gear 135 on a horizontalshaft 136 journalled in the arms 122 and 123 of frame 120. A pinion 139is fixed on the shaft 136 outside the frame 120 adjacent the arm 123.The pinion 139 meshes with a gear 140 on a trunnion 141 on the end of afriction drive drum 142, the trunnion 141 being journalled in the arm122. At its other end the drum 142 is journalled in the arm 123 by meansof a suitable trunnion not shown. Drum 142 is covered with a material ofhigh frictional coeflicient, such as a pebbly rubber mat.

A substantially U-shaped frame 170 having a bight portion 171 and arms172, 173 is pivoted on the arms 122, 123 by means of a shaft 174. Ashaft 153 carrying a. core 154 is rotatably supported between the endportions of arms 172 and 173. A gear 175 secured to shaft 153 mesheswith an idler gear 176 on the shaft 174. The idler gear 176 mahes with agear 177 on the trunnion 178 of a traverse drum 179, the trunnion 178being suitably journalled in arm 122. At the other end of drum 179 thereis another trunnion 180 journalled in the frame arm 123. The traversedrum 179 is provided with a pair of spiral grooves 161, 162 crossingintermediate the ends of the drum as at 163 and joined at their ends bycircumferential grooves 164, 165.

A guide roller 181 is mounted to rotate about a vertical axis off-setfrom the axis of spindle 111, by means of a bracket 182 extendinglaterally from the frame yoke 121. A yarn guide aperture 159 is formedin the guide disk 117 near the periphery thereof. The spindle 111 has anaxial bore at its upper end and a lateral guide passage which opensbelow the guide disk 117 towards guide aperture 159. The bore and guideare well known and are not shown herein since they form no part of thepresent invention. An example of such an arrangement is to be seen inthe patent to Kimball, No. 2,505,050, issued April 25, 1950. A curvedguide bar 157 is fixed on the arms 122 and 123 on the opposite side ofspindle 111 from guide roller 181 and is so curved as to maintain asubstantially constant length of yarn between the point where it leavesspindle 111 to the point where it is applied to the package beingformed. The guide bar 157 need not have a fixed center of curvature, butthe effective center at all times is on the opposite side of the spindleaxis from the bar.

In operation, a strand Y of filar material is led from the guide 166 ina loop about the twisting device and through the guide 159, theninwardly through the lateral guide passage in spindle 111 and out of theaxial bore at the upper end of the spindle and then laterally to theguide roller 181. The strand Y may take one or more turns about theguide roller 181 and then pass back through frame 129, and then underthe bar 157, and finally upwardly into the groove of the traverse drum179. From the traverse drum 179 the strand passes under the frictiondrum 142 and up to the core 154 to be wound into a package 155, shown insolid lines at the start of the winding and shown as a full package indot-dash lines. In building the package, the package is rotated at aconstant peripheral speed by frictional engagement with the periphery ofdrive drum 142. The rotating package drives the traverse drum 179through idler gear 176. The angular rate of the traverse roller is madeslightly less than that of the package so that the yarn is laid on thepackage in a precision manner. The frame 170 carrying the core 154pivots about the shaft 174 as the diameter of the package increases. Inpassing over the drum 179, the strand engages the grooves 161 or 162 andis traversed lengthwise of the drum 179 and the drum 142 to be woundinto a self-supporting package of the cross-wound or Fiji wind type.

In passing from the guide to the guide roller 181, the strand receivestwo turns of twist per revolution of the spindle 111.

I claim:

1. A device for twisting and winding a strand of filar materialcomprising a rotatable spindle having a strandguiding passage formedtherein, a guide disc mounted on the spindle, a U-shaped winding framecarried by the spindle and pivotally mounted on the axis of saidspindle, means preventing rotation of the winding frame, a friction drumon the winding frame, means carried by the spindle for driving thefriction drum about its own axis, a package core and package driven bythe friction drum, and means for traversing the strand along the packagecore comprising a rotary drum arranged parallel with said core andhaving a reversing spiral groove formed in the outer face thereof, meansfor feeding said strand from the passage in said spindle to said spiralgroove, a gear mounted on and driven by the package core and meshingwith an idler gear mounted on said U-shaped frame, said idler gearmeshing with and driving a gear secured to said grooved traversing drum.

2. ,A device for twisting and winding a strand of filar materialcomprising a rotatable spindle having a strandguiding passage. formedtherein, a guide disc mounted on the spindle, a winding frame carried bythe spindle, means preventing rotation of the winding frame, a frictiondrum on the winding frame, means carried by the spindle for driving thefriction drum about its own axis, a package core and package driven bythe friction drum,

and means for traversing the strand along the package core comprising arotary drum arranged parallel with said core and having a reversingspiral groove formed in the outer face thereof, and means for feedingsaid strand from the passage in said spindle to said spiral groove,comprising a strand-guiding element carried by said frame and spacedlaterally from the axis of said spindle, and a second strand-guidingelement carried by said frame and spaced laterally from the axis of saidspindle in the opposite direction from said first guiding element.

3. A device according to claim 2 wherein said second strand-guidingelement comprises a curved bar arranged generally parallel with the axisof said grooved drum and having an effective center of curvature locatedon the opposite side of the axis of said spindle.

4. A device for twisting and winding a strand of filar materialcomprising a rotatable spindle having a strandguiding passage formedtherein, a winding frame carried by the spindle, means preventingrotation of the winding frame, a package core, mounted on said frame,meansdriving said core from said spindle, means for traversing thestrand along the package core comprising a rotary drum arranged parallelwith said core and having a reversing spiral groove formed in the outerface thereof, and means for feeding said strand from the passage in saidspindle to said spiral groove comprising a strandguiding element carriedby said frame and spaced laterally from the axis of said spindle, and asecond strandguiding element carried by said frame and spaced latterallyfrom the axis of said spindle in the opposite direction from said firstguiding element, said second strand-guiding element comprising a curvedbar arranged generally parallel with the axis of said grooved drum andhaving an eifective center of curvature located on the opposite side ofthe axis of said spindle.

5, A device according to claim 4 wherein said firstrnentionedstrand-guiding element comprises a second curved bar arrangementsupported on said winding frame on the opposite side of the axis of saidspindle from -said first-mentioned curved bar and having an effectivecenter of curvature located on the opposite side of said axis from saidsecond curved bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,749,355 Reece Mar. 4, 1930 2,002,590 Shinn May 28, 1935 2,002,975Brooks May 28, 1935 2,505,050 Kimball Apr. 25, 1950 2,732,681 1 KleinJan. 31, 1956 2,752,100 Strange June 26, 1956

